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Annual Side-by-Side Concert

April 19 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Side-by-Side

With our guest conductor, Loras Schissel, and guest soloist Scott Shelsta, trombone.

For more than twenty years, the Allentown Band has reached thousands of students from area school districts in Lehigh and Northampton Counties with its two-pronged Education Outreach programs presented in Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall at no cost to the students or to the school districts.  In the Fall of each year, the band presents Youth Concerts designed especially for students in grades 4 to 8; and in the Spring, up to fifty select musicians in grades 9 to 12, recommended by their band directors, are invited to perform Side by Side with the Allentown Band in a public concert.
On Sunday, April 19th at 4:00 pm, fifty advanced musicians from fourteen area high schools will perform side by side with fifty members of the Allentown Band, conducted by Ronald Demkee in a free concert at Miller Symphony Hall. Mr. Loras Schissel, Senior Musicologist at the Library of Congress and retired conductor of the Virginia Grand Military Band will serve as Guest Conductor for part of the program and Mr. Scott Shelsta, former Principal Trombone with the U.S. Army Band, Pershing’s Own, Washington, D.C. will be the featured Guest Soloist. In celebration of America’s Semiquincentennial – 250th Anniversary Year, the program will feature music exclusively of American composers, including John Williams, Morton Gould, Arthur Pryor, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rogers, and John Philip Sousa.

LOras Schissel

Loras Schissel, guest conductor

Shelsta at Sousa Concert

Scott Shelsta, guest artist

Loras John Schissel has served as conductor of the Blossom Festival Band since 1998.  He also regularly conducts the Blossom Festival Orchestra. He is founder and music director of the Arlington-based Virginia Grand Military Band, an ensemble comprised of current and former members of the four U.S. service bands.

Turn of the century Americana trombonist Scott Shelsta has entertained people from all walks of life. As the trombone soloist for “Pershing’s Own” The United States Army Band, Scott has performed for all US Presidents from former President Richard Nixon to President George W. Bush, as well as several Foreign Heads of State and Dignitaries. One highlight of his Military Career was playing for the Interment of the Vietnam Unknown Soldier.

Scott’s forte as a trombone Solo artist features the Turn of the Century style playing. These solos are extremely demanding and seldom heard in public. The artist must obtain a careful balance between strength and flexibility which is the age-old problem of brass players everywhere. Arthur Pryor’s Blue Bells of Scotland and Air Varie are considered trombone technical showpieces. Pryor was a noted soloist for the Sousa Band prior to becoming leader and soloist of his own highly successful concert band.

More on the Miller Symphony Hall calendar of events.

 

Program

Part 1- Allentown Band

Liberty Fanfare / John Williams
Symphony for Band (West Point) Movement 2 “Marches” / Morton Gould
Ronald Demkee, Conducting

Air Vari / Arthur Pryor, arr. Scott Shelsta
Scott Shelsta, Trombone

American Pageant / Thomas Knox
U.S. Field Artillery March / John Philip Sousa, edited by Loras Schissel
Loras Schissel, Conducting

Intermission

Part 2- Combined with Students

Sesquicentennial Exposition March (1926) / . John Philip Sousa
A Bernstein Tribute / Clare Grundman
Ronald Demkee, Conducting

Star Dust / Hoagy Carmichael, arr. Scott Shelsta
Scott Shelsta, Trombone

Victory at Sea / Richard Rodgers, arr. Robert Russell Bennett
Stars and Stripes Forever / John Philip Sousa
Loras Schissel, Conducting

 

This concert is a free , non-ticketed event!

Details

  • Date: April 19
  • Time:
    4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Venue

  • Miller Symphony Hall
  • 23 N. Sixth Street
    Allentown, PA 18101 United States     + Google Map